When Robert Brenton, Senior Plant Adviser at Carpenders Park Garden Centre, first saw the trimmed base of the Christmas tree for Harrow vicar Stephen Keeble, he could hardly believe his eyes.
Running through the trunk like the name of a seaside town in a stick of rock was the clear shape of a cross. ‘It was a real surprise to me especially as the customer was the vicar’, says Mr Brenton. ‘I felt at the time of it being revealed that it symbolised a blessing. The Lord reveals himself in mysterious ways’.
The Revd Stephen Keeble, Vicar of St George’s, Headstone, Pinner View says ‘at first I thought the staff at the Garden Centre were playing a trick on me. But trees do play an important part in the Christian faith.
‘In the story of the Fall, through their own fault Adam and Eve are turfed out the Garden of Eden, at the centre of which is the tree of life. Later Jesus comes to restore the spiritual life lost by dying on a cross made from a tree, and rising from the dead.
‘Whatever may be said ofthe process of forming the cross in this amazing Christmas tree, the sign is a timely reminder of the love of God and the victory of life over suffering and death’.
The ‘miracle’ Christmas tree will be on display at St George’s Carol and Crib service at 5pm Christmas Eve, 11.30pm Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, and Christmas Day Communion at 11am.
